In today’s news: Boosey & Hawkes to start publishing works by Leokadiya Kashperova, Spotify to go public on the New York Stock Exchange and Klaus Doldinger receives the German Music Authors’ Price for his lifetime achievement – our blogpost offers more information and news!

In today’s news: The Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra (BSO) has become the first symphony orchestra in the world to have a professional ensemble led by disabled musicians as a core part of its activities, Help Musicians UK has re-launched its Musicians’ Hearing Health Scheme and the final round of voting is now open for The Global Awards 2018. Also, Salzburg votes against application for becoming the European Capital of Culture, and South Korean group Baum Quartett wins the Berenberg Kulturpreis.

Music Teacher

The London Philharmonic Orchestra has launched Creative Classrooms Connect, a collection of resources for Key Stage 2 teachers created in collaboration with primary teachers and other experts in music education.

Irish Times

Pizzicato

Milan’s Teatro alla Scala is building new spaces behind the old theatre, in Via Verdi, where a building which had been acquired years ago, has already been demolished to allow the new construction designed by architect Mario Botta.

In today’s news: AI could become the next Mozart, violins that incorporate spiders’ silk, nominations for 2018 International Opera Awards are open. A missing Weill song is rediscovered and the German theatre prizes are awarded.

The Telegraph

The advice note circulated to students at the prestigious Royal Academy of Music was intended to help them get jobs and keep them. Instead, it caused a student revolt leading to the sacking of the senior lecturer who wrote it.

Classical Music

Members of the public can submit nominations in with categories including Male and Female Singer of the Year, New Production of the Year, Opera Company of the Year, and awards for Philanthropy and Education and Outreach initiatives.

In today’s classical news: classical music calms pets scared of fireworks, scientists solve the riddle of Chopin’s early death, Brit Trust reaches £20m milestone. VR demonstrates what music feels like to a deaf person. Das Berliner Jazzfest attracts young auditory, Harold Faltermeyer wins the German Film Music Award (Deutscher Filmmusikpreis).

Opera Now

Mezzo-soprano Simona Genga has won the first prize at the Canadian Opera Company’s annual Ensemble Studio Competition. She receives a $10,000 cash prize and a performance opportunity at Ontario’s Elora Festival.

WildKat PR is thrilled to be working with Blüthner on their inaugural Piano Series. Seven virtuosi will showcase the piano with its unique Golden Tone in a series of seven recitals held at St John’s Smith Square over the 2017/18 season.

From its founding in 1853 by Julius Blüthner, the eponymous firm has remained family-run. Current CEO, Dr Christian Blüthner-Haessler, enjoyed a successful career as a cancer surgeon, before taking the reins in 1996, and being named Businessman of the Year in Germany in 2004 after just 8 years in the industry.

From its inception, Blüthner has been an innovative company, which can be seen today in its impressive range of Design Pianos, and the extraordinary PH Grand. Blüthner has also pushed boundaries exploring the mechanics of tone production, with the creation of the Aliquot string, an added fourth string which vibrates sympathetically, cylindrical soundboards, and angle cut hammers, resulting in a truly special sound.

The seven programmes held at St John’s Smith Square will be performed by outstanding talents from across the world, highlighting the versatility, depth, and character of the Blüthner instrument. Repertoire will include Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven; Tchaikovsky, Chopin, and Brahms; Stravinsky and transcriptions of Chinese music; Sjogren, Nielssen, and Nilsson. Tom Poster’s Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective will open the series performing Clara Schumann, Brahms, Schubert, and Robert Schumann.

In today’s classical news, violinist Herbert Light has retired from Philadelphia Orchestra, after 56 years with the ensemble. Santa Cecilia Conservatory in Rome and Associazione Nazionale Liuteria Artistica Italiana announced the results of the 2016 Santa Cecilia International Violin Making Competition. Also, the 17-year-old pianist, Henry Cash, has won the Pendle Young Musicians’ Bursary 2016, which took place at The Muni, Colne.

Long-serving Philadelphia Orchestra violinist Herbert Light has retired after 56 years with the ensemble. A student of David Madison and Jani Szanto at the Philadelphia Musical Academy, he was a member of the Baltimore Symphony and served in the United States Army Band in Washington D.C. before joining The Philadelphia Orchestra in 1960.

Countertenor Andreas Scholl and pianist Tamar Halperin have been named as the recipients of the Hessischen Kulturpreis 2016. The prize is endowed with €45,000 (£40,560), making it the most valuable award in the Federal Republic of Germany.

Pianist Henry Cash has won the Pendle Young Musicians’ Bursary 2016. The 17-year-old, who is currently studying with Graham Caskie at Chetham’s School, played Haydn’s D major sonata and the first movement of Chopin’s B-flat minor sonata in the final round of the bursary competition, which took place at The Muni, Colne.

From the Patricia Barber song cycle that launched the event Wednesday, to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s MusicNOW program that concluded it Monday night, Chicago’s largest-ever festival of contemporary classical music proved itself to be all that it aspired to be — a grand idea in a grand city at a grand time.

After having previously worked with Kimiko Ishizaka on her Goldberg Variations project, WildKat PR are delighted to welcome back this talented pianist.

“A gifted and obviously devoted Bachian” (James R. Oestreich, New York Times), Kimiko Ishizaka has composed her own completion to Bach’s unfinished masterpiece, Die Kunst der Fuge. In September Kimiko will be performing the London premiere at St. John’s Smith Square, with a pre-concert discussion of her completion with composer Robert Hugill.

In 2012 Kimiko Ishizaka received worldwide attention and recognition for her innovative recording of Bach’s “Goldberg Variations”, a project that was financed by her fans using the crowdfunding website Kickstarter.com, and which Ishizaka released directly into the Public Domain in a desire to make Bach accessible to as many people as possible. As a result, her recording of the Goldberg Variations is the most visible recording of this work on the internet today.

A similar fan funding campaign led to her 2015 release of Bach’s “Well-Tempered Clavier” which has been praised by multiple reviewers as their favourite interpretation of the work ever. This album was also a great commercial success – a significant fact in the face of ever-declining record sales – having occupied the #1 sales position on both Amazon.comand Bandcamp.com upon its release.

Kimiko Ishizaka attains her unique Bach style through meticulous coupling of articulation to fugal structure, complete abstinence of the sustaining pedal, and many hours of practice in total darkness. Kimiko is passionate about sharing personal and unique ideas and interpretations that are truly her own, consciously refraining from listening to other artists’ recordings.

Apart from her rigorous efforts towards interpreting the music of J.S. Bach, Kimiko is also passionate about the music of Frédérick Chopin, and about competitive weight lifting.

Multi award-winning composer and pianist Chad Lawson will release his new album Bach Interpreted: Piano Variations on Bach Chorales in September 2016, accompanied by a European tour – Chad Lawson: Bach and Chopin Interpreted.

A Steinway artist, Chad’s most recent album The Chopin Variations reached #1 on the Billboard, iTunes and Amazon Classical charts in 2015. His music has huge popular appeal, and is listened to over 1.7 million times per month on streaming platforms. Described as ‘the classical CD for people that hate classical music’ (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette), Chad Lawson’s music is the perfect first step on a journey into classical music.

Chad is a national speaker and blogger on the subject of today’s independent music industry, and US streaming service Pandora have invited him to speak before Congress about the groundbreaking influence of streaming services on the ways people listen to music.

In today’s news, Wigmore Hall announces new partnership with medici.tv and Gramophone Magazine reports that soprano Denise Deval has died. Also, cellist Julian Lloyd Webber is named Birmingham and Midland Institute president and a task force tackles musicians’ US work visa problems

The New York Philharmonic announced on Wednesday that it was turning to Jaap van Zweden, an intense, exacting Dutch conductor, to be its next music director and guide it through the costly renovation of its hall, two seasons of exile and, if all goes well, a triumphant return to Lincoln Center